Tennessee judge who offered inmates reduced sentences for sterilization rebuked- CBS News / Associated Press

By CRIMESIDER STAFF CBS/AP November 22, 2017,

Tennessee judge who offered inmates reduced sentences for sterilization rebuked

SPARTA, Tenn. -- A Tennessee judge who offered inmates less jail time if they voluntarily underwent birth control procedures has been publicly reprimanded by state judicial regulators.

The Tennessean reports White County judge Sam Benningfield received a letter of reprimand dated Nov. 15 from the Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct, saying he'd acted in a way that threatened public confidence in the judicial system.

A public reprimand doesn't tangibly affect a judge's ability to work.

In May, Benningfield signed a standing order providing 30 days' credit toward jail time for men who agreed to free vasectomies and women who agreed to free Nexplanon implants.

Benningfield told CBS News at the time the controversial move was in response to the opioid crisis. He said he wanted to stop prospective mothers and fathers from passing their drug addiction to their children.

He estimated 80 to 90 percent of the cases that come before him are tied in some way to drugs or alcohol.

"I'm not in a crusade of any sort, I'm trying to help -- trying to help people," Benningfield told CBS News' David Begnaud.

Benningfield issued another order in July rescinding the practice after backlash.

Benningfield and White County Sheriff Oddie Shoupe have been named in several lawsuits as a result of the program.

Judge issues blow against Trump's sanctuary city order - CNN Politics

Judge issues blow against Trump's sanctuary city order

Jeremy Diamond 2017

By Jeremy Diamond and Euan McKirdy, CNN

November 21, 2017

Judge blocks Trump's sanctuary cities order

Trump's twists and turns on DACA

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 14: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), agents detain an immigrant on October 14, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. ICE agents said the immigrant, a legal resident with a Green Card, was a convicted criminal and member of the Alabama Street Gang in the Canoga Park area. ICE builds deportation cases against thousands of immigrants living in the United States. Green Card holders are also vulnerable to deportation if convicted of certain crimes. The number of ICE detentions and deportations from California has dropped since the state passed the Trust Act in October 2013, which set limits on California state law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

Who is a target for deportation?

Paul Ryan tells undocumented mom not to worry

First Lady Melania Trump honors International Women of Courage during a ceremony at the State Department in Washington, DC, March 29, 2017.

Ioffe: Melania is the 'right kind of immigrant'

President Donald Trump arrives at a rally at the Phoenix Convention Center, Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2017, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Trump threatens shutdown over border wall

Mexican lawmaker says he scaled border fence

Olympic Stadium is shelter for asylum seekers

Judge blocks Trump's sanctuary cities order

US to expel Haitian earthquake refugees

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 28: Acting U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke pauses while briefing reporters following a meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House, September 28, 2017 in Washington, DC.

WH urged DHS to end immigrants' protections

Ivanka calls on Congress to act on immigration

Trump council member will quit if DACA ends

About 20 protesters demonstrate to demand immigration reform in front of the White House August 30, 2017 in Washington, DC.

Trump expected to end DACA program

Senator Bernie Sanders Labor Day breakfast 1

Sanders: Ending DACA most cruel, ugly decision

Donald Trump White House DACA sot_00002004.jpg

Reporter asks Trump if DREAMers should worry

US President Donald Trump participates in a tax reform kickoff event at the Loren Cook Company in Springfield, MO, on August 30, 2017. (JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

Trump's twists and turns on DACA

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 14: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), agents detain an immigrant on October 14, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. ICE agents said the immigrant, a legal resident with a Green Card, was a convicted criminal and member of the Alabama Street Gang in the Canoga Park area. ICE builds deportation cases against thousands of immigrants living in the United States. Green Card holders are also vulnerable to deportation if convicted of certain crimes. The number of ICE detentions and deportations from California has dropped since the state passed the Trust Act in October 2013, which set limits on California state law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

Who is a target for deportation?

Paul Ryan tells undocumented mom not to worry

First Lady Melania Trump honors International Women of Courage during a ceremony at the State Department in Washington, DC, March 29, 2017.

Ioffe: Melania is the 'right kind of immigrant'

President Donald Trump arrives at a rally at the Phoenix Convention Center, Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2017, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Trump threatens shutdown over border wall

Mexican lawmaker says he scaled border fence

Olympic Stadium is shelter for asylum seekers

CHICAGO, IL - OCTOBER 16: A mural voicing support for immigrants is painted along a retail strip in the predominately Hispanic Pilsen neighborhood on October 16, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois. The U.S. Justice Department has accused four cities including Chicago, New York, New Orleans and Philadelphia of violating the law with their "sanctuary city" policies. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Judge blocks Trump's sanctuary cities order

Refugees line up for food distributions by the UN in a refuge camp that opened after the 7.0 earthquake rocked Haiti in Port au Prince on January 29, 2010. (Photo by Nadav Neuhaus/Corbis via Getty Images)

US to expel Haitian earthquake refugees

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 28: Acting U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke pauses while briefing reporters following a meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House, September 28, 2017 in Washington, DC.

WH urged DHS to end immigrants' protections

Ivanka calls on Congress to act on immigration

Young immigrants and supporters gather for a rally in support of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in Los Angeles, California on September 1, 2017.

A decision is expected in coming days on whether US President Trump will end the program by his predecessor, former President Obama, on DACA which has protected some 800,000 undocumented immigrants, also known as Dreamers, since 2012.

Trump council member will quit if DACA ends

About 20 protesters demonstrate to demand immigration reform in front of the White House August 30, 2017 in Washington, DC.

Trump expected to end DACA program

Senator Bernie Sanders Labor Day breakfast 1

Sanders: Ending DACA most cruel, ugly decision

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

The order blocks a key executive order

Trump signed the order soon after taking office

(CNN)President Donald Trump's latest executive order aimed at implementing the hardline immigration policies he championed during his campaign has been blocked by a federal court.

US District Court Judge William Orrick issued a permanent injunction Monday blocking Trump's executive order seeking to strip so-called sanctuary cities of federal funding.

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The ruling represents a major setback to the administration's attempts to clamp down on cities, counties and states that seek to protect undocumented immigrants who come in contact with local law enforcement from deportation by federal authorities.

The ruling was also the latest instance in which a federal judge has stood in the way of Trump's effort to implement his hardline policies immigration, joining rulings that have blocked different portions of Trump's travel ban and preliminary injunctions on the sanctuary cities order.

DACA deal state of play

DACA deal state of play

Monday's ruling, which followed lawsuits from two California counties, nullifies Trump's January executive order on the matter, barring the administration from setting new conditions on spending approved by Congress.

The January order sought to crack down on jurisdictions such as Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco that do not comply with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) requests for assistance with identifying and deporting undocumented immigrants.

It was not immediately clear whether the Trump administration was preparing to appeal the ruling, but the Justice Department said it plans to "vindicate the President's lawful authority to direct the executive branch."

"The District Court exceeded its authority today when it barred the President from instructing his cabinet members to enforce existing law," Justice Department spokesman Devin O'Malley said in the statement.

Attorney: Ruling a victory for rule of law

A mural voicing support for immigrants is painted along a retail strip in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago.

A mural voicing support for immigrants is painted along a retail strip in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago.

Those fighting the executive order celebrated the decision Monday.

"This is a victory for the American people and the rule of law," San Francisco city attorney Dennis Herrera said in a statement. "This executive order was unconstitutional before the ink on it was even dry.

"We live in a democracy. No one is above the law, including the president."

The statement added that he was "grateful that we've been able to protect billions of dollars that help some of the most vulnerable Americans."

What is a sanctuary city?

These states have banned sanctuary cities

These states have banned sanctuary cities

The term "sanctuary city" is a broad term applied to jurisdictions that have policies in place designed to limit cooperation with or involvement in federal immigration enforcement actions.

Cities, counties and some states have a range of informal policies as well as actual laws that qualify as "sanctuary" positions.

Most of the policies center around not cooperating with federal law enforcement on immigration policies. Many of the largest cities in the country have forms of such policies.

In 2015, more than 200 state and local jurisdictions did not honor requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain individuals, ICE Director Sarah Saldaña testified before Congress, and a subset of that group refused to give access to their jails and prisons to ICE.

What are sanctuary cities, and can they be defunded?

What are sanctuary cities, and can they be defunded?

According to tracking by the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that advocates for restricting immigration and opposes sanctuary policies, roughly 300 sanctuary jurisdictions rejected more than 17,000 detention requests, between January 1, 2014 and September 30, 2015.

The idea for sanctuary cities appears to have sprung out of churches in the 1980s that provide sanctuary to Central Americans fleeing violence at home amid reluctance by the federal government to grant them refugee status.

They became popular in more diverse locales to counter what officials there saw as overzealous federal immigration policies, particularly against those arrested for minor, non-violent crimes.

"San Francisco is a sanctuary city and will not waiver in its commitment to protect the rights of all its residents," San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee said in January, upon announcing an expansion to a city fund to provide legal services to the immigrant community, documented or otherwise.

Chicago has set up a similar fund, as has Los Angeles.

"Chicago has in the past been a sanctuary city," Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in November, according to the Sun-Times. "It always will be a sanctuary city."

Case that sparked immigration debate

Trial for central case to sanctuary city debate 01:58

The murder trial of an undocumented immigrant has drawn national attention -- in part because he had been deported from the United States five times.

Jose Ines Garcia Zarate's trial for the shooting of Kate Steinle, on a San Francisco pier in July 2015, stirred the already heated debate over immigration.

The case became a rallying cry for Trump and GOP politicians, who have invoked Steinle's name in decrying sanctuary cities and promoting the construction of a border wall.

Before the shooting, officials in San Francisco had released Garcia Zarate from custody instead of turning him over to immigration authorities.

CNN's Tal Kopan, Dan Simon and Darran Simon contributed to this report.

China stocks and bonds slide as leverage concerns intensify - Financial Times

China stocks and bonds slide as leverage concerns intensify

Dollar mired around October lows after Fed minutes

Dollar mired around October lows after Fed minutes

It is unclear how much enthusiasm foreign financial groups will have for increasing their investments in China © Bloomberg

Hudson Lockett in Hong Kong and Michael Hunter in London

Thursday - 23/11/2017

What you need to know

China’s stock and bond markets slide on concern over tighter policies on leverage

Dollar remains mired at mid-October lows with Fed looking harder to read in 2018

European stocks fall as investors shun risk with Tokyo and New York markets shut

Oil prices pare gains as lift from US inventories data wanes

Leading quote

“Although I agree that the authorities in China are in favour of deleveraging, I also think there is a higher objective to attract portfolio inflows which requires a strong renminbi exchange rate, and at least stable local asset prices,” says Koon Chow, strategist at UBP.

“To this end the sell off is likely to be temporary.”

Hot topics

Stock markets in China came under heavy pressure after weakness in the country’s bond markets rattled broad investor sentiment, with authorities engaged in moves to cut leverage.

The trepidation over tighter regulation chimed with news that Beijing halted all approvals for new online lending companies, and came amid pressure in corporate bond markets. Investors pushed the yield on China’s 10-year sovereign bond up 1.7 basis points, taking it back over 4 per cent, a level it has crossed above four times in November.

The CSI 300 index of large-cap stocks is down almost three per cent, its biggest one-day fall in around 18 months. The Shanghai Composite is down 2.3 per cent and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong is 1 per cent weaker, after it breached the 30,000-point mark for the first time in a decade on Wednesday.

Tokyo markets are closed for a public holiday.

Meanwhile, the dollar is stuck at its lowest levels since October, with investors having already priced in the prospect of a December rate rise from the Federal Reserve.

The lacklustre trading in the world’s reserve currency reflects a more uncertain outlook at the US central bank after investors read the minutes from its policy meeting last month.

The dollar index is stuck at 93.209, its weakest level since October 20. It is down 0.9 per cent over the last two sessions. The yield on 10-year US Treasuries is down 5 basis points measured from Monday’s close to 2.32 per cent as investors have bought the debt. The demand for it underlines the more cautious feel to trade and the stubborn concerns among investors — and shared by policymakers — about inflation staying persistently under the Fed’s 2 per cent target despite the economic recovery.

There was a warning in the minutes that inflation may remain below target for longer than previously expected. Adding to the uncertainty, the make-up of the Federal Open Market Committee is facing a series of changes — not least a new chairman when Jay Powell replaces Janet Yellen in January.

The dollar is slipping against most other major currencies. The euro is up 0.1 per cent at $1.1829. The yen is 0.1 per cent stronger at ¥110.9 per dollar. Sterling is down 0.1 per cent at $1.3312, but remains around its strongest level since mid October.

The Australian dollar was 0.4 per cent firmer against its US counterpart at $0.7616.

Equities

European equities are under pressure, as the cautious feel to sentiment leaves investors unwilling to re-test recent highs.

London’s FTSE 100 is underperforming its peers, hit by utility stocks after news of a sharp decline in customer numbers as Centrica, one of the sector’s biggest names.

The main London index is down 0.5 per cent, while Frankfurt’s Xetra Dax 30 is off by 0.4 per cent. The Europe-wide Stoxx 600 is down 0.3 per cent.

Financial stocks are also under pressure, with the Euro Stoxx banking index down 0.7 per cent.

Commodities

Oil prices are edging lower. Global marker Brent crude is off 0.3 per cent at $63.14 while US marker West Texas Intermediate is off 0.2 per cent at $57.91.

The benchmarks had climbed about 1 per cent and 2 per cent, respectively, overnight following the release of data from the Energy Information Administration showing that US crude inventories fell last week while gasoline stocks and distillate inventories rose.

Gold is down 0.2 per cent at $1,288.20 per ounce.

Congressman embarrassed by naked selfie threatened to report woman to police if she exposed secret sex life - Washington Post

Congressman embarrassed by naked selfie threatened to report woman to police if she exposed secret sex life

Texas Representative Joe Barton, 68, known for oil and gas advocacy and managing Republican baseball team, forced to apologise after explicit photo circulated on Twitter

Mike DeBonis, Elise Viebeck

Representative Joe Barton Aaron P. Bernstein/Reuters

Representative Joe Barton, who apologised on Wednesday for a lewd photo of him that circulated on the Internet, told a woman to whom he had sent sexually explicit photos, videos and messages that he would report her to the Capitol Police if she exposed his behaviour, according to a recording reviewed by The Washington Post.

The woman spoke to The Post after the lewd photo was published on Tuesday by an anonymous Twitter account. She shared a secretly recorded phone conversation she had with Barton in 2015 in which he warned her against using the explicit materials “in a way that would negatively affect my career.”

The woman described encounters and contact spanning a five-year period that began online after she posted a message on Barton's Facebook page in 2011, leading to the sexually explicit exchanges and ultimately a pair of physical sexual encounters in Washington and Texas. Over time, she said, she became aware of and corresponded with multiple other women who engaged in relationships with Barton, who represents a suburban Dallas district and is one of the most senior Republicans in the House.

Republican apologises after nude selfie emerges online

The woman, who is not married, spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect her privacy.

In the 2015 phone call, Barton confronted the woman over her communications with the other women, including her decision to share explicit materials he had sent. In that context, he mentioned the Capitol Police, a comment the woman interpreted as an attempt to intimidate her.

“I want your word that this ends,” he said, according to the recording, adding: “I will be completely straight with you. I am ready if I have to, I don't want to, but I should take all this crap to the Capitol Hill Police and have them launch an investigation. And if I do that, that hurts me potentially big time.”

“Why would you even say that to me?” the woman responded. "... The Capitol Hill police? And what would you tell them, sir?”

Said Barton: “I would tell them that I had a three-year undercover relationship with you over the Internet that was heavily sexual and that I had met you twice while married and had sex with you on two different occasions and that I exchanged inappropriate photographs and videos with you that I wouldn't like to be seen made public, that you still apparently had all of those and were in position to use them in a way that would negatively affect my career. That's the truth.”

In a statement late on Wednesday, Barton said a transcript of the recording provided by The Post may be “evidence” of a “potential crime against me.”

He said that he received word Wednesday that the Capitol Police are opening an inquiry. While there is no federal law prohibiting the disclosure of intimate photos of adults without consent, The Dallas Morning News on Wednesday reported that the Twitter photo of Barton could violate a 2015 Texas law banning so-called “revenge porn,” which is the portrayal of another person's intimate body parts and distributing the images without consent.

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“This woman admitted that we had a consensual relationship,” Barton said. “When I ended that relationship, she threatened to publicly share my private photographs and intimate correspondence in retaliation. As the transcript reflects, I offered to take the matter to the Capitol Hill Police to open an investigation. Today, the Capitol Police reached out to me and offered to launch an investigation and I have accepted. Because of the pending investigation, we will have no further comment.”

The woman said she never had any intention to use the materials to retaliate against Barton.

A request for comment from the Capitol Police was not immediately returned late on Wednesday.

Earlier Wednesday, Barton acknowledged “sexual relationships with other mature adult women” that he said took place while he was “separated from my second wife, before the divorce.”

“Each was consensual,” he said in a statement. “Those relationships have ended. I am sorry I did not use better judgement during those days. I am sorry that I let my constituents down.”

Barton, 68, is the fifth-longest serving Republican in the House, now in his 17th term. He is a former chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and now serves as vice chairman of the panel.

The Texas native has built a reputation on Capitol Hill as a fierce advocate for the oil and gas industry and a reliable vote for conservative legislation. A member of the Freedom Caucus, Barton regularly receives top scores from socially conservative groups such as the Family Research Council that analyse members' stances on positions such as abortion and gay rights.

But he is not known as an outspoken culture warrior. In 1998, amid the scandal over President Bill Clinton's affair with a White House intern, Barton was quoted in The Los Angeles Times saying, “I personally don't care a fig about what he does in his bedroom with his wife or any other sexual partners he may have, but I do care if he lies under oath.”

Barton was still married to his second wife when his relationship with the woman began. His wife filed for divorce in April 2014, according to court records; the divorce was made final in February 2015. A spokeswoman for Barton did not respond to a question about when his separation began.

Besides the recording of the phone call, the woman shared text and social-media messages she exchanged with Barton, as well as a 53-second cellphone video Barton recorded of himself while masturbating. The conspiracy theory website InfoWars obtained a copy of the video and published it on Wednesday night, though the video appeared to have been removed from the site several hours later.

The lewd Twitter photo that Barton acknowledged on Wednesday appears to have been captured from that video. The woman said she did not post the image herself. She shared phone numbers for Barton that match his personal and government-issued cellphones. Barton was not abusive or coercive in his interactions, the woman said, but said she felt he was “manipulative and dishonest and misleading” in his dealings with her and other women.

“It's not normal for a member of Congress who runs on a GOP platform of family values and conservatism to be scouring the Internet looking for a new sexual liaison,” she said, explaining her motive for coming forward.

The woman said Barton first reached out to her in 2011 after she posted a comment about politics on his Facebook page. As the two struck up a friendship, they would exchange messages for hours, including when he was on the House floor or in committee meetings, she said.

Soon, Barton began flirting, making suggestive comments and sending explicit messages, she said. She described feeling uncomfortable with his advances at first.

“He says to me, 'Do you want me to send you a picture of myself?' I said, 'Oh no, no. Please do not do that.' It kind of started there,” she said.

In the spring of 2012, the woman flew to Washington, where he gave her a tour of the Capitol building, she said. The two slept together during that visit, and he reimbursed her in cash for her flight, she said.

In 2014, she visited him in Texas, where the two slept together for the second and final time, she said. He again paid for her travel, she said.

“I was in it for the politics connection,” the woman said of their relationship. “I was kind of unwittingly drawn into it with him because of just the amazement of having a connection to a congressman.”

The Washington Post